Sunday, May 31, 2009

$38.00 Is Alot Of Money To Me ....

So.......
I dont do the bullet points but this will be a mix of stuff...enjoy

Let me say first of all ...I have been fairly busy at work. For those of you out there who work at or have worked at churches you know that there are times when you are in a moment of down times. Not alot going on, laid back ...then BOOM its crazy intense with stuff going on...Thats been me since Tuesday of last week. I promised myself I would not go into any long details BUT since Wednesday I have cooked or prepared three different meals for the following numbers of people ..80 on Wednesday, 51 on Saturday night and 104 on Sunday at lunch.
I am sick of food shopping,chopping,cooking,serving,washing dishes,putting dishes and pans up, taking pans back out...Bah! Needless to say I am taking a day off tomorrow...

Many many thanks to all who sent me birthday messages and wishes on Thursday ...It was a nice day.

I got a notice this week that my health insurance has gone up $38.00 dollars since last month. I have had this insurance since the fall of 2000 and in that time its gone up $53.00 dollars. $53.00 over the past almost 9 years was all it went up ....pretty good I think. Then BOOM over the course of a month it goes up nearly forty bucks. Sucks

I have had some pretty good political talks with close friends from church. Civil, polite converstations ...very enjoyable. Shame they cant all be that way

On Saturday night someone called me his "favorite liberal". This coming from a big republican ...Fun.

Some thoughts(not all my own but interesting)
Ever been in a parking deck and looked up and thought how much weight is sitting above your head?
Why do so many folks(myself included) get so attached to their personnal items?
What ever happened to size A batteries?
Ever sit at a stop light and think how much trust we put into those lights? Trusting that they are not all green when we drive through and intersection.

I have said this before and if it makes me weird then so be it ...but I love Christmas music. Its almost to the point that I listen at most any time of the year. It just relaxes me....Christmas is a fun time for me ...I enjoy it and the music makes me think to that time of the year and then I get relaxed.

I saw the teaser trailer for Toy Story 3 and it looks pretty fun....

Summer Mission trip to the Asheville area is in three short week. I am excited.

Alright ..Thats it for me ...Goodnight all

Monday, May 25, 2009

Sum...Sum....Summertime!!!




So....


As we all know I am not that fond of the summer but with summer comes the urge to hit the road...load up the car and head on a the great American roadtrip...buy a plane ticket and fly somewhere....jump on the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe and see the country. I was reading Mr Lucas' blog and decided I would share my plans for the upcoming summer months.

As usual, youth stuff will keep me pretty busy with some added day trips this summer but the two big things I have coming up are ...

I am going back to Washington DC in July. In less than two months actually...
Taking my mother, my brother and his family My aunt and uncle in Georgia are going also...
We are driving up and will be spending 8 days. I am excited. They are excited.
One reason for my excitment is the fact that I know a little about the DC area after having spent a couple of weeks up there with the youth on mission trips.

I know the METRO lines pretty good....I know the roads moderatly well....I am looking forward to playing tourguide and not having to keep up kids from the youth group.

Washington DC is a great city ....

The other trip is in the planning stages...I have a good friend from high school that lives outside Philadelphia Pennsylvania. She has been on me to come visit for over a year now and finally I am working towards taking up up on the offer.

Our initial plans call for me to fly into Philly and spend some time with them seeing the area...Amish Country, Valley Forge etc. Then spend one day driving up to NYC and seeing some stuff in that area....
Looking at sometime in August for this trip.

Plane tickets are really cheap right now and I need to strike while the iron is hot....It will be nice to see her and her family.

Should be a fun summer ...
What are you doing ?


Monday, May 18, 2009

COLD WINDY WET COLDPLAY!!!

The above picture is from the concert and the best I could do with a $170.00 camera...but this is indeed COLDPLAY up there ....

So.....

After a 15 year break from concerts I made the trek over to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon to see the greatest rock band in modern history....COLDPLAY!!! For me to go to a concert that did not include some type of big band music or a type of salute to the old standards of the 1930s and 40s was a BIG DEAL. Yall know me ...I am a dork when it comes to music.

Here's the deal though ...It rained ...ALOT. I mean SOGGY SOGGY ground and grass. I am usually prepared and for this I was ...I took a chair. We get to the gates and they are telling everyone to take their chairs back because for tonight only ...chairs are not allowed. HUH?

Anyway ...sitting on the ground for a couple of hours getting wet was not fun but seeing COLDPLAY in concert more than made up for it ...

For me to stand in rain...sit in wet grass....get really cold from the wind blowing ...that was a big deal...
As I mentioned we had lawn seats and although we were not down front we had really good spots and could see the band pretty dang good.

So as of today I have seen The Drifters,Janet Jackson, The Eagles and Coldplay in concert....


LOST

I have made no secret of the fact that this past season did not do it for me ...but the season ender was really good. I am looking forward to the end of the show next year.


I am reading a really good book right now called The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. This guy had so many health and digestive problems and was literally wasting away from poor health. He then turned to the Bible and some friends and started looking into how folks ate YEARS ago ....going organic, living off fresh items, getting back to the basics. His changes in his lifestyle were amazing and clearly seen in his photos. I bought this book last year but am just now reading it ...I am very impressed so far.



Go to that link and then follow into the US area.....I think i would enjoy having one of these little gadgets. ....again because I am a nerd
SINATRA
Martin Scorcese has been tapped to direct a big screen bio about The Voice. All the legal stuff has been finalized and now casting has started. Tina Sinatra has said that she wants this to be done on the same level as RAY and WALK THE LINE. Release should be sometime next year....
I am excited

and Congrats
.... to Mary D for graduating this past weekend from law school!!! Mary has become my sounding board about a subject near and dear to my heart. We have a shared passion for one BIG topic....Glad to see her done with school.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

BLECH

So.......
Just right quick ...Former Veep Dick Cheney makes me sick to my stomach....
Just wanted to share

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

The Only Hell Mama Raised Was Me ..........

So.......
I would seem that it has been a few weeks since my last blog post....I have come here a couple of times during that span of time and thought "I should write something" but nothing ever comes .
I really dont have much tonight either but here goes.....

Gay Marriage
Love it ...Hate it....Support it or protest against it ....Its gonna happen folks. In a few years with the help of state legislatures and state supreme courts this will not just be a regional thing (thank you New England) it will be nationwide. I always go back to my original argument- How can one section of the population be denied something that another section is granted.
The US Constitution is VERY clear on things such as this ....
I read today an article saying that we are removing God from the rite of marriage. Marriage is a legal bond ...recognized by states as such. By saying that a state will recognize gay marriage does not force ANY church to perform ANY ceremony. If a church wants to allow gay marriages to take place then that is up to each church.
But if someone wants to go to the courthouse and LEGALLY become a married couple ...then that should be allowed.
If I had lived 40-50 years ago I would like to think that I would have come down on the right side of intergration....I would ahve been so proud to tell my family and friends that I helped make a difference in some lives by doing what was right.
In 40-50 years I plan on telling my family and friends that I was on the right side of history...

Swine Flu
Do you have it yet ? Have you had it ? I dont mean to make light of something that has already taken the lives of ....well, taken the life of one person.....but this has really gotten out of control in my opinion.
Sunday at church we wore gloves AFTER cleaning up with hand sanitizer to serve communion. In all the years of being at DUMC we have NEVER done this ...not even at the height of "regular" cold and flu season....Its crazy to me .
I am one of the most germaphobic people you will ever meet(not a fan of hugging and shaking hands, whether or not there is a global crisis that could end with us all dead from the swine flu)
but I think this is all overkill.
A friend of mine made a point the other night ...he said he had read that on average 106 people die everyday in the USA from traffic accidents....and yet we hardly hear about that one .... Swine Flu is sexy, its dramatic, it gets us worked up and it sells !!
Perhaps, if this strain is still around come fall and winter we should worry but for now I say lets enjoy the summer.

Star Trek
I am excited about seeing this movie but am also a bit worried about the direction it will take....The guys behind the rebooting are the same guys who bring us LOST...Sooooo we will see...I am there tomorrow night at 10pm.

Health
My work out sessions are going good although I have allowed my work to creep into them a bit ...Its hard to find the right balance but overall its good for me .
I have started including a lot more fiber and organic foods in my diet. I am also coming up on one month of not drinking sodas. I will admit to having one the other day ...a diet coke and it was just ok. Mainly been water,coffee and juices for me.
I go back next week to the heart doctor for some follow up tests. We shall see how that goes....

Personal
I am still tired of being single. Saying that i am tired sounds stupid but thats what it is .....I want something but have a hard time going about finding it and making it happen. One day .

and finally ...I have decided that my next phone will be an iPhone. I am going to bite the bullet and get one ....they are cool, my cool friends have them (looking at you Mr Lucas and Bill)
but Twitter still sucks

Its late and I have breakfast at 6:30 at Chappys ....
Peace to you